Friday, September 28, 2007

Casting Call Friday: The Pitch

The Fantastic Four. The X-men. Spider-Man. Captain America, Iron Man and The Avengers.

The shared universe of Marvel Comics is populated by some of the most colorful, interesting and recognizable superheroes being published today. The New York City patrolled by a web-slinging, friendly neighborhood wall crawler is the same city that’s home to the family of science-heroes living in the Baxter Building and the demigods who call Avengers Mansion home. The biggest thrill a kid can have reading a Marvel comic is when his heroes team-up to defeat the bad guy. Spidey and the Human Torch are trading wisecracks while trading punches with the Rhino? What are Wolverine and Captain America doing together on that cover? Any small boy seeing these icons together is going to be compelled to find out.

However, in television and the movies there are no big crossovers. 20th Century Fox’s X-men simply aren’t going to run across Columbia’s Spider-Man or Regency’s Daredevil.

While in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Luke Cage gained super strength and bullet proof skin in a tragic accident. Danny Rand, orphaned son of an American industrialist, was raised in Tibet to become the world’s deadliest martial artist, a living weapon with fists of iron. Together with ex-NYPD officer Misty Knight and the idealistic Colleen Wing, Luke and Danny are employed by the Nightwing Restorations detective agency. They investigate cases too strange for the police, exploring the hidden corners of the Marvel Comics universe and coping with their very unusual lives. They are Heroes for Hire.

Think Angel meets Se7en. The baddest man in Harlem and a kung-fu white boy team-up to fight ninjas, crime lords, serial killers and old Spider-man villains.

(1 hour action drama)

It's Heroes For Hire, coming fall of 2009 or, more likely, never.

Henry Simmons as Luke Cage



Chad Michael Murray as Danny Rand



Gina Torres as Misty Knight



Carly Pope as Colleen Wing



And Dennis Dun as Professor Wing.



Pitch... Pilot script... Series bible. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

And, should the series take off I've got a couple of people in mind for guest stars and recurring villains. Examples:

Tamoh Penikett as The Taskmaster (recurring, Season 3)
Peter Dinklage as Maynard Tiboldt, The Ringmaster (Season 1, Episode 8)
Masuimi Max as Lilah Cheney (Season 2, one episode)

And with the big finish, Fictional Comic Book Movie Casting Call Week comes to a close.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Casting Call Thursday: Solo Avengers!

Yeah, that's right. Solo Avengers. Save your laughter until the end.

Ron Livingston as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
David Boreanaz as Simon Williams
Diane Farr as Bobbi "Mockingbird" Morse


Clint Barton's hot temper and clashes with authority have led to his current "reserve" status with Earth's premiere super-team. But he hasn't laid down his bow. Clint's staying busy in Southern California, freelancing as a bounty hunter and super-criminal skip tracer.

Federal agent Bobbi Morse works out of the LA field office as the Avengers' west coast government liason. If the Rhino or Electro test California, or if a spare Ultron robot gets loose, she's the one stuck with the assignment of bringing them in. More often than she'd like, this requires her to call in Clint Barton for assistance.

Simon "Wonder Man" Williams is a former super-hero turned Hollywood action hero. His days of three picture deals and 100 million dollar opening weekends are behind him though. On the down side of both careers, Simon's desperate to recapture his fading spotlight. He now hosts a "Cops" style reality show that follows Hawkeye around, taping his exploits and clashes with the super-criminal element.

It's Magnum PI meets Cops meets the Marvel Universe. It's Solo Avengers.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Dream Cast (Not the Video Game System)!

This time Fictional Comic Book Movie Casting Week is going to tackle a real project, coming to your living rooms next year.

Buckle up, it's Preacher!

Matthew McConaughey as Rev. Jesse Custer
James Marsters as Cassidy
Cameron Diaz as Tulip O'Hare
Gary Oldman as Herr Starr
Maggie Gyllenhaal as Featherstone
Ray Stevenson as Saint of Killers
Chris Cooper as Hugo Root
Johnny Galecki as Arseface
Val Kilmer as John Wayne
Christopher Meloni as Jody
Clint Howard as TC

With Piper Laurie as Marie L'Angelle and Ian McDiarmid as the Voice of God.




Not the Cameron Diaz from "The Sweetest Thing", but the Cameron Diaz from "A Life Less Ordinary".

Marsters might be a bit of type casting, but he'd nail the hell out of the part.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Fictional Casting Call. Spoilers Ahead!

Fictional Comic Book Movie Casting Week rolls along with a look at the alternate Earth IMDB page for David Fincher's Suicide Squad.

George Clooney as Rick Flagg
CCH Pounder as Amanda Waller
Helena Bonham Carter as Nightshade
Idris Elba as Ben Turner
Matthew Settle as Floyd Lawton
James Nesbitt as "Digger" Harkness
Tatum O'Neal as Karin Grace
Gina Torres as Mari McCabe
Dean Winters as Tom Tresser
Claudia Black as Duchess
Matthew Lillard and Eva Amurri as Punch and Jewlee

And Steve Buscemi as Arthur Light




Pounder and Torres were perfection in JLU. Why mess with what works? Plus, I (heart) Zoe Washburne.

When Punch gets offed during a mission for being a dumbass, who better for the audience to cheer when they get killed onscreen than Lillard?

Lawton was the hardest pick of the bunch, but I think Matthew Settle, who protrayed the dead inside Lt. Speirs in Band of Brothers, would be perfect as the cold-hearted Deadshot.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Spoiler Alert! Fictional Casting!

Fictional Comic Book Movie Casting Week opens with a bang.

52: The Series. A special one year HBO event.

Paul Walker as Michael Carter
Ciaran Hinds as Teth Adam
Steve McQueen as Vic Sage
Gina Gershon as Renee Montoya
Nathan Fillion as Adam Strange
Jay Harrington as Buddy Baker
Tricia Helfer as Starfire

With Anthony Stewart Head as Will Magnus and Ed Norton as Ralph Dibny




Yeah, I know Steve McQueen is dead. He's still a perfect Question.

I'm going somewhere with this actually. Friday's imaginary casting call will tie into a pilot spec script I've written for a pair of Marvel characters who's films have been in development hell for nearly a decade.

Tomorrow: David Fincher's Suicide Squad

Friday, September 21, 2007

Casting News! Spoiler Alert!

Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Ann Margaret, Karl Malden and Tuesday Weld.

Watched my DVD copy of The Cincinnati Kid again last night and realized that it has the perfect cast to star in "Steve Ditko's The Question", the imaginary movie set to open in my head next summer.

Steve McQueen as Vic Sage would've been bad ass.

In fact, I think next week might be Fictional Comic Book Movie Casting Week. This being the first post in almost a month (Damn you Irregulars. Why do you vex me so?), fake casting news for fake movies should be light enough to get me back into the groove while not taking time away from those in progress issues of the comic.

So on that note, stay tuned* for Monday's announcement of the cast of "52: The Movie"




*stay tuned all one (two?) hits I'm still getting.